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YoungOnesPack Wiki:Role Play Guide Lines
If you need help figuring out figuring out how to roleplay wolf behavior, you're in the right place! Keep in mind, wolves have personalities and you should not use traits from this guide directly into roleplay. Use this to help you understand the behavior and life of a wolf. Joining and Leaving a Pack 'Joing a Pack' At first you might want to join a pack, though not all the packs will allow new wolves. There will be some packs that may be too large and won't accept loners. In that case, you will have to join another pack, or adopt a wolf. When joining a pack, your wolf won't be accepted right away, your wolf must hang around the pack's territory for some time until the pack gets used to it's presence. Lone wolves will most likely be chased off if they trespass into a pack's territory. In order to be accepted, your wolf must show complete submission to the higher ranked wolves like the alpha pair and beta. Whether you are a male or a female you must gain permission from the alpha male first, though you have to gain acceptance from both alphas at one point. Submissive postures include: *Tail between the legs *Exposing the stomach *Whining *In some cases, licking the alpha's jaw *In some cases, grooming *Lowered head *No eye contact *Flattened ears (Keep in mind flattened ears and layed back ears are not the same, layed back is dominant) 'Leaving Your Pack:' It is common for young wolves to leave their packs to join another, or form their own. However, that's risky because your wolf can die without the pack's protection. Note that there isn't room for more new packs in the rp, you are only allowed to rove. If your wolf decides to leave it's pack permanently, or for roving, it most likely won't be stopped by the other wolves. Roving and Breeding 'Roving and Mating' A roving male is a wolf that left his pack to find females to mate with in other packs. It's completely different from a dispersal wolf. While a dispersal wolf won't return to his pack and will try to steal a female to start a new pack, a roving male or a rover will mate with a female from another pack and return to his former pack. Rovers dont take females with them, though, in some cases they may wander away with the female to ensure a successful mating and then return to their respective packs. Roving can be done only by adult males. They will try to rove at other packs. The males of that pack may chase him away or a female may see him first and mate with him. The other users of that pack will decide what to do. Only males can rove and they must be at least two years old. Roving is not as easy as it sounds, young rovers might not be successful their first time. It helps to go accompanied by other experienced males. While roving males will get a hold of any female if they get the chance, the big prize is the alpha female because it ensures the pups' survival. Of course alpha females are harder to get because they are often guarded by the alpha male, usually only older and experienced wolves manage to mate with these desired females. Males usually rove alone or in pairs. Only large groups have a better chance at joining a new pack. The oldest male leads the roving coalition and if that group joins a new pack, he will most likely take dominance. In some cases the young rovers may act as decoys, while they are chased by the resident males the experienced rovers mate with the females, though this may change each time they rove. Males go roving only when it's mating season: this can vary from late fall (late November) to late winter (late February or early March). Some males may start roving on late November, though, roving activity increase on January and Februay. A lone rover wont be able to survive on its own for more than a week, so make sure to return to your pack or you could even go a few ranks down. Once you return to your pack you must show submission towards the higher ranked wolves. Although roving is a helpful activity for subordinates to pass their genes to the next generation it might also be risky. Here is a list of the negative aspects of roving: *Your wolf can be either killed or attacked by the pack it's roving at. *Your wolf can die of starvation due to the lack of food in winter. *If your wolf is away for a long time it might go a few ranks down in the pack's hierarchy. *If several males leave the pack on roving, a different roving coalition may take over the pack and not let your wolf rejoin. *In rare cases during your wolf's absense the pack can move territories or be forced to flee, and your wolf would be unable to find them again. Here is another list of the positive aspects of roving: *Pass genes to the next generation. *Have multiple litters in one single winter, (if your wolf succeeds). *No need to care for the pups once they are born. *Chances of taking over or joining a different pack raise (accompanied). *Avoiding the alphas rage/moody behaviour in winter. The alpha female will keep all the breeding rights to herself and will not allow any other female to become pregnant. If another female breeds, the leader will most likely evict that female. In some cases, the dominant female will kill the offspring of the other female, she may kill all the pups or just the weak ones. When wolves are 2 - 3 years old they often disperse permanently. Low-ranking females feel the urge to have pups of their own, so they might start seeking out for rovers, though most of them are evicted before they can give birth. Pregnant females must be at least two years old to have pups or to even mate. No one year and a half pregnant females please. They can not just suddenly have pups. Females must mate in order to produce pups, females get in heat only in winter. A pair must mate several times to ensure pups, once mating occurs then the female must wait 59 to 63 days to give birth. When time to mate arrives dont give many details, or it can get uncomfortable for some players. You are always allowed to make a private chat with your selected mate and give all the details you want (of course that wont be posted in the general rp archive). Although it's commonly said that wolves mate for life, there is a lot of varied information out there. There are some cases where a male wolf keeps two female wolves as his mates and some cases where wolves leave their mates and seek new ones, also some males may mate with two females in the same year. Alpha males must guard their mate from roving males, if the alpha gets distracted the alpha female may be attracted by a rover. 'Pregnancy' Alpha females may attack subordinates not only to exert their dominance, but also by preventing them from breeding. When subordinates females are attacked by the alpha, it decreases the estrogen in them and so reduces their chances of coming into oestrus and breeding and therefore the dominant female will ensure her pups get the best start in life. Pregnancy also triggers aggression in female wolves and so increases the demands of dominance. Sometimes even subordinates will not submit to the alpha female when pregnant and which will lead to dominance fights and may result in dominants being overthrown and evicted or subordinates being evicted permanently. The alpha female must make sure that no other females breed in the pack, though in some cases subordinate females may mate with rovers and become pregnant. In this case the subordinate female will be punished and most likely evicted on spring before giving birth. Subordinate females will usually abort their litters or just abandon them to rejoin the pack. If she is not evicted, the alpha female will most likely kill the pups. Pups and Teens When the alpha female has her pups the whole pack will help out. When the group goes out on hunting or patroling, the pups will be watched by selected wolves often recognized as babysitters. Their job is to stay at the den and watch the pups until the pack returns. Mature females are able to nurse the pups in the mother's absence. Pups are extrememly playfull and love to explore whenever given the chance, which often leads to the pups wandering off. Because of their playfull nature their is little difference in each pups personality. For now all they want to do is play and cause trouble for the busy adults. Teens are not that different from pups. Teens still have their puppy personalities, they just wanna have fun playing with each other. But now that they are teens their personalities really start to show. Teens will start to show more dominance or submission, which really starts to determine their rank. The teen stage is the place were a wolf is a pup is maturing into a real adult. Adult wolves can do more to help out the pack then pups can. Adult wolves can go hunting, babysit, and overall take on more responsibility than pups can. Pups have various stages of their life, each of which is full of development, where they learn from the pack. Here are some of the Stages: *10 - 13 days: Eyes open and are blue at 11-15 days but their eyesight is not fully developed and pups cannot perceive forms until weeks later. Begin to stand and walk; vocalizations include growls, whimpering and squeaks, first high-pitched attempts at howling *3 weeks: the milk teeth appear, they start to explore the den. Ears begin to raise around 27 days and hearing improves significantly. *4 - 5 weeks: short trips outside the den, begin to eat meat. Ears are erect but with tips still flopping. Canines and premolar teeth present. *6 weeks: moving up to a mile from the den (with adult wolf) *6 - 8 weeks: pups are weaned, traveling to rendezvous site. *12 weeks: begin to travel with the pack on hunts (with adult wolves) *15 - 28 weeks: milk teeth are replaced *7 - 8 months: begin to hunt with the pack *1 year: Epiphyseal cartilage closes off signaling the end of skeletal growth. Pups status in the pack may start to take shape with pups displaying either more dominant or submissive behaviors. *2-3 years: Hormonal changes signal sexual maturity, May choose to disperse from pack. By the end of their development, the pups have turned into intelligent, playful young teenagers. Fighting and Ranks 'Ranks' Wolves typically live in family groups called "packs." In the wild, most packs consist of two parents and their offspring, although some packs may also contain a relative, such as a sibling, of one of the breeding wolves. In some cases, an unrelated wolf may be allowed into a pack. A dominance hierarchy exists within all wolf packs, and because pack hierarchy is very important to wolves, much of the body language wolves use is related to affirming it. There are four different classes of wolves within a wolf pack. These include: 'The Alpha Pair: ' Sometimes referred to as the breeding pair, the alpha pair consists of a male and a female wolf. These are the two wolves which will, generally, mate and produce offspring. These are the two top-ranking wolves in the pack, and they are dominant over all other wolves in the pack. They often (but not always) direct the activities of the pack. The alpha pair is usually unrelated however if one of the two die one of their sons/daughters will take over. An alpha should maintain the appearance of dominance most of the time.